Chapter 38 Am I still a miscellaneous expert?
The jeans were turned into capri pants. Lin Sicheng held the dog's leash in one hand and carried the dog bowl wrapped with the cut-off pant leg in the other.
Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin followed behind, glancing at the dog and then at the dog bowl in Lin Sicheng's hand.
"Old Guan, what's that?"
"It looks like an enamel basin?"
Hao Jun rolled his eyes: "Isn't that ridiculous?"
Is an enamel basin worth two thousand yuan for a dog?
They would even cut their pants to take the dog bowl covered in dog poop with them?
"Then what do you think it is?"
Hao Jun choked for a moment: It looked... like an enamel basin too?
But it's definitely not an enamel basin.
Lin Sicheng isn't someone who has money to burn, is he?
While he was making wild guesses, Lin Sicheng stopped and looked around.
Just outside the North Alley, there's a road across the street, and Sajin Bridge is right next to it.
The roadside was full of parked cars, ivy climbed all over the railings, and sprinklers in the grass hissed and sputtered.
Lin Sicheng wrapped the dog leash around the railing and stepped into the green belt. He quickly unraveled the denim fabric and sprayed the dog into the sprinkler head.
Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin exchanged a glance and craned their necks.
The basin was filthy, not just ordinary filth, but black mud mixed with all sorts of things, which was washed down layer by layer.
Lin Sicheng didn't mind, and gently wiped the fabric with the denim cloth. His movements were slow and careful.
Then once, twice, three times... the dog bowl became cleaner and cleaner, gradually revealing its original color.
Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin's eyes widened and widened.
First, the edge of the basin was uneven, pitted and dented, a dilapidated mess.
Only a few pieces of porcelain remain, bearing the unique water droplet patterns left after the enamel was chipped and broken, much like raindrops exploding in an instant.
Strangely, the exposed edges were not made of low-carbon steel that had oxidized and turned black after the enamel chipped off, but were red, with a hint of purple.
What is this, copper?
Hao Jun and Guan Xingmin were invigorated: Strictly speaking, all metal objects coated with enamel belong to the category of porcelain enamel. However, due to the scarcity of raw materials and limitations in industrial technology, mass-produced copper enamelware has virtually disappeared.
Even if they exist, they are purely handmade. And they are from a very early period, at least before the founding of the People's Republic of China.
So, is this an enamel bronze basin from the Republic of China period?
Haha, I knew Lin Sicheng wouldn't buy a dog for two thousand yuan. Judging from the current situation, this bowl is definitely worth two thousand, practically a free dog?
Thinking to himself, Hao Jun moved forward a little more, but then he froze as if frozen.
No, how did it become blue?
As Lin Sicheng rinsed the basin, the intact outer porcelain was slowly revealed. A touch of deep blue came into view.
Thinking he was seeing things, Hao Jun blinked hard, opened his eyes again, and saw his pupils shrink little by little.
Blue as a furnace fire, clear as the azure sky, bright as the heavens... Peacock blue?
But that's not the point; it's the patterns that gradually emerge from the bottom of the basin after being washed:
Two goldfish with three tails each. The porcelain on their bodies has mostly worn off, with only the glaze remaining on their tails: one is pink and the other is golden.
The water lilies between and around the two fish are basically intact. At first glance, the pink is pink, the gold is gold, and the green is green. The glaze is even and rich, and the colors are moist and beautiful.
Most importantly, the craftsmanship marks on the chipped porcelain parts of the fish body are clearly traces of copper wire being used to create the effect. After the enamel was applied, the fish was fired, then polished, then re-applied, then fired again, then re-applied again, and so on...
Hao Jun couldn't deduce how many layers of color were applied or how many times it was fired, but he was certain that this was no ordinary enamel copper basin, but rather cloisonné enamel.
Officially known as cloisonné, it was monopolized by the imperial court during the Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. It was not until the Guangxu era that, due to insufficient financial resources and a technological gap, it was transformed into a joint venture model of "official establishment and private firing".
Based on this inference, even if this basin dates back to the Republic of China era, and even if it came from a private workshop, it must at least be from a long-established imperial merchant brand during the Qing Dynasty.
If I had to give it a price, it would be worth at least ten golden retrievers.
Wow, Lin Sicheng's luck?
Just as he was secretly amazed, Guan Xingmin nudged him: "Old Hao, look!"
"No need to look, it's cloisonné!"
"I didn't know this was cloisonné? Let me show you the design..."
"What is it?"
Hao Jun turned around abruptly: Lin Sicheng had already finished washing the inside of the basin and was now washing the outside. Just like before, the glaze was a deep blue, crystal clear and lustrous.
When the grime was washed away, a stamp about the size of a beer bottle cap, round inside and out, and darker blue in color, close to navy blue, was revealed.
The characters are in regular script, the ink is uniform in thickness, the strokes are spaced out in a pleasing manner, and the thickness is even.
Unfortunately, only half remains: Reverse seat... Reverse seat what?
I don't remember it, but that doesn't stop the price of this pot from skyrocketing.
There are no ten golden retrievers without a certain style, but if there is a style, even if it has no historical record, the price will at least double.
He glanced instinctively at the dog tied to the railing: What's this, just pure luck?
After a short while, Lin Sicheng had finished washing and was just stepping over the railing when Guan Xingmin stretched out his hand: "Let me take a look!"
Hao Jun chuckled: "Aren't you worried about getting dirty?"
"Dirty? You throw thirty to fifty thousand yuan into the latrine, do you think I'd fish it out?"
"nonsense!"
Hao Jun retorted and joined in.
But after just one glance, the two of them were suddenly stunned.
Looking at something from a distance is one thing, but looking at it up close is quite another.
First, look at the shape: the rim has indeed been chipped, but it is mostly man-made: there are seven indentations, forming a wavy line, which, combined with the straight lines of the belly, makes it look like a flower.
So this isn't a basin at all; it's clearly a sunflower-shaped dish.
Then look at the ring of green leaves at the bottom of the basin and the two fish in the middle: the copper body is as thin as paper, the copper wire is as fine as silk, the thickness is uniform, and the size is uniform.
Just looking at this exquisite and extremely meticulous craftsmanship, I feel that this pot... no, this dish, is not something that could be made in a folk workshop.
Looking at the glaze color: it is clearly sky blue, but when the light is turned to one side slightly, a faint purple hue is revealed.
Subconsciously, the two of them remembered the bluish purple clay teapot.
Cloisonné does indeed undergo kiln transformation, but this basin definitely does not. The reason it has this glaze color is simply because when applying the enamel (coloring before firing), a type of cobalt blue was used.
The key point is that this thing was ridiculously expensive, and during the Ming and Qing dynasties it was only supplied to the royal family.
It was even more impossible during the Republic of China era. Back then, whether it was porcelain or enamelware, they all used imported, cheaper foreign blue pigment from Europe.
Not to mention the Republic of China era, by the time of the Tongzhi reign, the practice of using Qingliao (a type of reed) had basically disappeared.
Combined with the fact that "enamelware was not fired after the Qianlong Emperor", this pot could only have come from the mid-Qing Dynasty or earlier... But then again: where would there be private workshops in the mid-Qing Dynasty?
Hao Jun's eyelids twitched, and he flipped the basin over: although only half of the inscription remained, it was clear that the seal had double circles, one inside the other. The characters were slightly soft, with a hint of cursive script...
But precisely because it is somewhat soft, it is highly recognizable: the official kiln marks from the early Yongzheng period are in this style.
Damn it, this is unbelievable! And I'm supposed to be a miscellaneous expert?
Hao Jun stared at the golden retriever lying lazily under the railing, unsure of what to say.
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